To an outsider, the we-said/they-said accounts of what went wrong with youth baseball are as murky and boring as listening to a couple in the throes of an ugly divorce. The minutiae of who did what when are of interest mainly to the combatants and the arcane point-scoring is really beside the point to a third party, who has no way to verify the facts and usually just wants to get away from the fray.
But of course, with youth baseball, it's "for the children" who, but for the program in question would end up being little felons and miscreants.
Once again public officials are being drawn into a situation that has already consumed countless hours of talk at the taxpayers' expense. One speaker demanded an answer on the spot from the City Council on providing $30,000 for a city-based program, as if the governing body by fiat at an agenda-fixing session could authorize such funding. Municipal government just does not work that way.
As in this account from 2010, the youth baseball issue dominated the meeting for as long as it later took for the council to conduct its own business. Council President Bridget Rivers urged the parties to work out a solution for this year and then work toward being independent of the city next year. But if, as stated, talks have gone on for six months already, it is unclear what more discussion would produce.
Mayor Adrian O. Mapp has already made clear the administration's position - fields will be maintained by the city for team use, but the city is not sponsoring a team. That is the answer. But speakers mentioned tactics such as threatening to disrupt another team's registration or to bring children to the next council meeting to make things go their way. To quote Yogi Berra, "It ain't over 'til it's over" - especially in Plainfield.
--Bernice
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I like the idea of sports for kids, but I don't think my taxes should pay for it. I like the idea of kids and adults raising money for something they think is important. That builds character. Let's see what happens.
ReplyDeleteFrom my understanding when PAL ran the baseball program the city just provided the fields...if that was the case, STOP holding your hand out for freebies and get to work on building your program. If QCBL is not for you, then work on getting your baseball club off of the ground. Petty petty petty adults with too much time on their hands.
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